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Friday, April 14, 2017

Gettysburg and Her General in Gray

In the early summer of 1863, for
various reasons, including victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville,
Lee urged President Davis to again take the war to northern soil.

On July 1, 1863, a 3-day
bloodbath was fought in Gettysburg, and when the smoke of the cannons cleared
Union had triumphed, although nearly 5,000 horses and 50,000 men lay dead or
dying.

It is conjectured that because many
of the Confederate soldiers never received a proper burial, and with the utter massacre
and violence of the battle, historic Gettysburg is the home of many unquiet
spirits, including the ghost of what appears to be the ghost of General Robert
E. Lee.

*The Ghost TrainTourists can also take a 90-minute ride on the
Ghost Train -- the only ghost tour in Gettysburg that takes visitors across the
actual battlefield.

April 7, the Wild Rose Press released Her General in Gray. In this
93-page story, the hero died at Antietam fighting for the Confederacy. John Sibley Allen never saw Gettysburg.

Blurb:

Autumn Hartley purchases Allen Hall at a steal, but the northern lass gets
far more than a beautiful plantation in the South Carolina Low Country. The
house comes complete with its own ghost, a handsome and charming Civil War
General—for the Confederacy. The stage is set for another civil conflict.

John Sibley Allen died in battle from a wound in the back, the bullet fired
by the turncoat, Beauregard Dudley. The traitor’s reincarnation is Autumn the
Interloper’s first dinner guest. Sib bedevils her date and annoys her with
fleeting, phantom touches, certain he can frighten her away as he did previous
purchasers. As time marches on, her resident ghost becomes more appealing while
her suitor, Beau, pales in comparison. Autumn finds her ability to love didn’t
perish in the divorce that sent her south seeking a fresh start.

After over a century in the hereafter, Sib discovers he is falling for none other than the feisty Yankee girl, but what future could a modern woman and an old-fashioned ghost possibly hope for?

Excerpt:

“You
are not there.” Autumn dropped her book and leapt to her feet, shaking her fist
at the apparition standing beside the fireplace.

The
frolicking blaze shone through the whatever-he-was lounging by the hearth, his
arm stretched along the mantel. A
ceramic clock beside his hand chimed the hour—seven golden notes. Tall candles
in brass candlesticks flickered in an eerie fire dance. He appeared to be a
Civil War soldier of the South, his opaque uniform gray with a nasty
red-stained hole near the heart. Double
rows of gold buttons decorated the coat. Three gold stars and a wreath on the
collar glittered in the firelight. No blood spilled from the apparition. Except for his wound, he looked perfectly
healthy—for a dead man! He nodded and bowed elegantly...as much so as
his lost society had been, regardless of the strong backs supporting that way
of life.

“Oh,
but I am, Miss Hartley.” He
straightened, longish hair gently curling over his face.

A
chill raced over her, but she suppressed the tremor of apprehension. Autumn swallowed hard and adjusted her white
cotton blouse. “I don’t believe in
ghosts. You’re not welcome here. I
bought this house and am struggling to pay for it. Get your Halloween self out of my living room.”

He
smiled. “It’s not Halloween, and we
share this house. It was mine, you know,
and still is. I’m willing to share it
with you—even if you are a Yankee. After
all, the conflict is over, and I’ll hold no grudge against the Northern
aggressors. Even though the South will never surrender.”

“Northern
aggressors?” She inhaled sharply, the
vanilla scent of the candles on the dining room table drifting into the living
room. Everything about Allen Hall was
beautiful. She loved the house. But this conversation with an arrogant spirit
solidified defiance. “And, for your
information, the South did surrender.”

“A
point of history.” He shrugged and gave her a condescending glance. “No more.”

6 comments:

I love a good ghost story, either scary or poignant. 13 Ghosts had me hiding under the covers as a child and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir left me sniffling. The thought of those lost souls wandering the battlefield is beyond tragic and devastating to my friends who are sensitive to the beyond. My sister lives in an old house still inhabited by spirits both restless and benign and it took some doing for them to reside peacefully.

I don't do scary. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and Ghost are 2 of the most poignant movies. I've been to Gettysburg. Although I'm nowhere near sensitive, I remember feeling unsettled there. What a tragedy. Great post, Linda.

What fun. I love ghost tours. I've taken them in Charleston, San Diego's Old Town, and New Orleans. My next will be either Tombstone or Bisbee, which I hear has a great haunted mine ride. Thanks for sharing. The story sounds very intriguing.